Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lynn Heatley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Lynn, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I started Love Riverside in 2016 because I saw the need to put love in action in our communities. I also saw the need to partner together with other existing nonprofits and civic/business organizations. My philosophy is that we can do so much more together than working independently. Nonprofit leaders can sometimes suffer from a scarcity mindset and feel like they have to compete for funds, volunteers, etc. It is is much more fun and rewarding when we all see and applaud one another’s strengths and how they uniquely serve the community. We all need each other and benefit incredibly when we collaborate together for the common good in our cities. This is why I was led to establish our organization.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I actually come from a healthcare setting for many years as a RN. As well as having worked with community nonprofits in various capacities over the past 30 years. I recently retired from 14 years as a Hospice Nurse and desired to serve our communities in different ways. Although we have been doing yearly service projects in our city since 2016, when the Pandemic began, I retired as a nurse and entered in to the area of Food Insecurity. Food is a basic need for all humanity and we saw our residents suffering and thus simply began to ask the community to pick up extra food when they were shopping. This has led to various grants to distribute food and presently, we have discovered a particular need which is providing produce for under-resourced Seniors in our city of 320,000+ residents. I never saw myself entering in to the food area but the more I connected with residents, the more I saw how this basic need was being unmet. Also, as a nurse, I know how much good nutrition impacts health, thus we remain committed to pursue funds to get good produce to our Seniors in need. Lastly, I will say that simply being connected with my community and with neighbors that I might not normally interact with has led my heart to enlarge to desire to be part of the solution to community needs and using my own passion and skillset to gather others to love and serve others around them.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In working with communities that are under-resourced, especially with Seniors who are trying to survive on very small fixed incomes, ongoing conversations with them have helped me understand their true needs and has helped me work past my previous judgements. I now understand that many Seniors don’t have access, or transportation or funding to get simple things needed for daily living. I also understand that systems can sometimes bring more confusion to connecting with resources available to them. I have enjoyed having many conversations not only with Seniors but also with Families who are struggling. It continues to change my perspective and I hope to be a better neighbor to others as I grow in empathy.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We seek to share our ongoing story through various social media sites (@loveriverside). Faithfulness to frequent posting is very important in continuing to not only tell our story but also share the stories of partners in our area (desiring to collaborate vs compete). If we don’t share the story, we miss the opportunity for others to see what is happening around them and to hopefully be inspired to bring change in their own unique way. We all have power to make positive impacts to those around us. We hope that by telling our ongoing story, it will inspire others to make a difference in ways that are meaningful to them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.loveriverside.org
• Instagram: @loveriverside
• Facebook: loveriverside
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-heatley-244a817/

Image Credits

1st image is with myself with my husband Bill Heatley, my biggest fan and support
2nd image is myself with my staff member Grace Manzo and Nonprofit leader Donna Sautia (receiving produce boxes for her clients)
3rd image – me and City of Riverside staff Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and Aggie Padilla at a Love Riverside Rally for our Serve Day